The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg

ìSobering and frighteningÖ. Silverbergís rich characters, his dead-on-target vision of modern society, his mastery at building tensionóall are in evidence in this notable outing from one of the very best.î óPublishers Weekly The Entities have arrived on Earth, fifteen feet tall with impenetrable defenses and inscrutable motives. As conquerors, they have no demands, no explanations, simply harsh consequences should they be challenged. Releasing a plague and plunging the world into a new Dark Age, the Entities seem unbeatable. But, one family at leastóthe Carmichael clan led by Colonel Anson Carmichaelówill never give up the resistance. THE ALIEN YEARS is an epic story told over multiple generations by master of thoughtful science fiction Robert Silverberg. Can ideas of freedom survive in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy? ìA remarkable study of human endurance and patience that belongs in most SF collections.î óThe Library Journal Find more of Silverbergís booksóHOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT, THORNS, TOWER OF GLASS, KINGDOMS OF THE WALL, THE STOCHASTIC MAN, THE LONGEST WAY HOME, and TO OPEN THE SKYóall available through E-Reads.

One of the most acclaimed SF writers of his generation, Robert Silverberg began his writing career in the 1950s while still an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1935 and lived in New York until 1972 when he relocated to Northern California. He became a full-time professional writer immediately after finishing his degree and has published hundreds of books and upwards of a thousand shorter fiction pieces. Although he is well-known as a masterly writer of science fiction and fantasy, he has written numerous biographical and historical works and a number of popular science titles, including a number of titles with an Archeological focus, most notably THE REALM OF PRESTER JOHN. Silverberg has won multiple Hugo Awards ("Nightwings" Best Novella, 1969; "Gilgamesh in the Outback" Best Novella, 1986; "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" Best Short Story 1990) and Nebula Awards ("Passengers" Best Short Story, 1970; A TIME OF CHANGES Best Novel, 1971; "Good News From the Vatican" Best Short Story, 1971; "Born With the Dead" Best Novella, 1975; "Sailing to Byzantium" Best Novella, 1986) He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for Best New Writer and was chosen as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2004. Among Silverberg's best-regarded novels are THORNS (1967), TO OPEN THE SKY (1967), THE MAN IN THE MAZE (1968), HAWKSBILL STATION (1968), DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH (1970), NIGHTWINGS (1969), TO LIVE AGAIN (1969), UP THE LINE (1969), TOWER OF GLASS (1970), SON OF MAN (1971), THE WORLD INSIDE (1971), THE BOOK OF SKULLS (1984), DYING INSIDE (1972), THE STOCHASTIC MAN (1975), SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE (1976), GILGAMESH THE KING (1984), TOM O'BEDLAM (1985), STAR OF GYPSIES (1986), AT WINTER'S END (1988), LETTERS FROM ATLANTIS (1990), THE FACE OF THE WATERS (1991), KINGDOMS OF THE WALL (1992), HOT SKY AT MIDNIGHT (1994), STARBORNE (1996), THE ALIEN YEARS (1997), THE LONGEST WAY HOME (2002) and ROMA ETERNA 2003). After a retirement for several years in the 1970s, Silverberg returned to the field with an epic planetary adventure LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE (1980) set on the invented, super-sized world of Majipoor and has returned occasionally to that world and to an on-going series (a rarity in his work) with MAJIPOOR CHRONICLES (1982), VALENTINE PONTIFEX (1983), SORCERERS OF MAJIPOOR (1997), LORD PRESTIMION (1999), THE KING OF DREAMS (2001) and a number of shorter pieces. TALES OF MAJIPOOR is a forthcoming collection of the shorter works, as yet unscheduled. Silverberg has published more than two dozen short story collections selected from among his own works and also developed a reputation as a discerning and creative anthologist with more than two dozen multiple-author collections, some of carefully-chosen classic works (ALPHA 1-9 and others) and some of all-original, previously-unpublished stories (NEW DIMENSIONS 1-12).